Should have been called "The Islandvertisement"

Rating: 3/10 (29 July 2005)

I am not a huge fan of Michael Bay, but I have enjoyed his previous films when I'm in the mood for something exploding. I went into this movie expecting nothing more.
The first half of the movie was deceptively interesting, then it switched to "action mode" and stuff started blowing up. Yay!
The action sequences were "average," relying heavily on extreme "music video"-style editing and image filtering. It became a little too "stylish," especially toward the end. I went in with few preconceptions of an actual "storyline," so the fact that the ending leaves a million loose ends was only minorly disturbing.
By far the WORST thing about this movie is the absolutely most blatant product placements since "Wayne's World" -- except in "Wayne's World" it was done as a JOKE about blatant product placements! Watch for an especially ridiculous "Xbox" ad and try to figure how it makes ANY sense given the context in which it appears. It felt like watching an extended commercial. I would only give this movie 2/10, but boost it to 4/10 based on the action.